Did you know that you can make more power and more spin without actually trying any harder? If that sounds impossible to you then you definitely need to listen to today’s podcast! Ian talks about the power of relaxation and exactly how much you should be relaxing your arm and grip during a ground stroke. He also discusses the benefit of playing people who are weaker than you and how to deal with losing concentration during such matches.
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Ian: Hi, and welcome to the Essential Tennis Podcast–your place for free, expert tennis instruction that truly help you improve your game. Today’s episode of the Essential Tennis Podcast is brought to you by tennisexpress.com. Please check them out this week by going to essentialtennis.com/express. Thanks very much for joining me on today’s show. I hope that it’s going to be helpful to you and some of the information that I give is going to give you some ideas on how you can improve your own game.
Before we get to today’s questions, real quickly I’d like to remind you all about the different ways that you can connect with Essential Tennis online. First of all, Twitter. You can follow essentialtennis.com at twitter.com/essentialtennis. And Facebook is at facebook.com/essentialtennis. Both on Twitter and Facebook you can sign up to follow or like Essential Tennis, and get regular updates on what’s new on the website. You’ll know right away when the new podcast is out, also blog articles, etc. And on YouTube you can check out all of the free videos at youtube.com/essentialtennis. And you can subscribe to the videos there and find out right away when I put up new instructional videos. Sorry it’s been a little while, but in the near future I’m going to start working hard on those again to get you all some good, free video instruction.
Alright, let’s go ahead and get to today’s show. Sit back, relax, and get ready for some great tennis instruction. [music] [music]
Alright. Our first question on today’s podcast comes to us from Ben in New York City. He wrote in and said: “I’m a 3.5 player, and sometimes during the weekends I play tennis with a group of 2.5 recreational tennis players. I play below my standards, such as double faulting day and night, and feeling so out of place. They aren’t the most experienced tennis players, so they do not know how to properly warm up. What they call warming up, is hitting the ball hard and all over the place. At the end, I feel dissatisfied that I performed lower than I actually can. On the other hand, when I play with my 3.5 to 4.5 hitting partners, I have some bad days, but I eventually click, especially on my serves, and I’m not…” I’m sorry… “and am not to be dissatisfied with my overall performance, regardless of if it is a win or a loss. I do not know if I am just not focused enough when I play with a group of recreational players, pressured that I have to play better than them, or if I am just not interested when I play with them. I know everyone has their good days and bad days, but I don’t enjoy in playing inconsistent tennis. In your opinion, what does the situation seem to be like, and how should I deal with it? Ben.”
Well, Ben, good question, and something that every recreational player is gonna deal with at some point or another most likely, is having to deal with playing, just in general, with or against somebody who’s a level lower than they are–or maybe several levels lower than they are. And I want to tell you that I think it’s great that you are spending time with these players, especially those players who are significantly weaker than you are. First of all, just shows that you’re a nice guy in general, and so it’s very nice of you to spend some time with them, and I’m sure it really helps them a great deal. So, just kind of shows some good tennis player character on your part, because I know that a lot of recreational players go out of their way to not play or practice with players who are weaker than them. So, kudos to you on that, first of all. And secondly, just in general, it’s good to practice playing against players who aren’t as strong as you. So, it’s good that you’re taking the time to do this.
Now, to answer your question specifically, to be honest, this seems like 100% a focus issue to you. And the biggest reason why I feel that way, is the statement that you make about your serves. You say that when playing against these weaker players, your serve just goes away, and you double fault all over the place–you double fault day and night, to quote you specifically. Well, what in the world does the strength of your opponent have to do with you putting your serve in the court? Putting your serve in the court is completely on you–100%. It’s not like your opponent is tossing the ball for you and not giving you a good toss, or like they have any direct control at all over the quality of your serve. So, that tells me that it’s definitely a concentration and a focus issue. And I don’t blame you. Let me just say that. I’m not saying that you’re a bad person, and that you’re a bad tennis player because of this. I totally understand that you can lose interest, and you can lose concentration, and you can be kind of frustrated, and what’s happening during these practice sessions. Because, as you said, these players aren’t strong enough yet that they can be consistent. And maybe they’re not smart enough to hit at a speed that they can control and give you practice to warm up. And they’re not giving you the ability to really get into rhythm and get comfortable, and be able to just hit the ball back and forth the way that you’re typically used to.
So, I understand that it’s difficult to concentrate in a situation like this, but at the end of the day, it’s just an excuse. And at the end of the day, this is something you need to work on, is specifically being able to concentrate even when the player on the other side of the net is not inspiring you to be focused and try hard, and concentrate, and do the absolute best you can to play at your very highest level. The players that you’re describing aren’t really just giving you that drive or that inspiration to do your best, and so you’re not doing it–you’re not doing it on your own. Then you have to learn how to up your focus and your concentration, so that you can get past the distraction and the lack of rhythm that’s occuring here, and still play at an acceptable level of tennis. So, on one hand, I don’t blame you for losing focus, because it’s not easy against players who are significantly weaker than you. But on the other hand, this is a great chance to purposefully work on your concentration. It’s a great chance to work on putting away lower level players.
I mean, when you think about it, what would happen then if you go and you enter a 3.5 tournament, there in New York City, a USTA tournament, and in the very first round you draw somebody who’s just like one of these players, or maybe literally one of these players, one of these same people that you’re talking about, and you have to beat this person. What then? And maybe you would say to me, “Well, then the match would count, and so I’d have a lot more concentration.” What if you didn’t? What if you ran into the exact same problems– you got frustrated because during the warm-up they didn’t give you any consistency or any rhythm, and so you never really felt like you got a good warm-up, and you weren’t comfortable. And then, as the match started, you weren’t hitting well, you were double faulting, you started getting angry at yourself, and before you know it, it’s a close match, or maybe you’re even losing, and this is a player that you consider to be much weaker than you. Then what? I mean, you can’t come off the court after that loss and say, “I played terrible. I’m actually much better than that person, but they’re so bad that I couldn’t play well.” That’s not an excuse. That, in fact, that’s a terrible excuse. That’s like one of the worst excuses that you could possibly have. And I don’t want you to fall back on that, and as a result never play against these players, because you won’t get the practice to figure out how to still have yourself perform to an acceptable level.
So, what you should do, is spend more time with these types of players, and purposefully work on your concentration and your focus. Again, the serve is a good indicator. If, when playing against a player who is better than you or your level, you double fault maybe twice per set, and then against a player who’s much weaker than you, you double fault 6 times a set, you know that your concentration is lacking, and it’s going down the tubes again. So that’s kind of a nice measure or indicator to tell us how good of a job you’re doing.
But, go out there against these players on purpose, and don’t focus on what they’re doing, and how weak they are, and how little of practice or rhythm they’re giving you. Focus on the things you can control–things like your footwork, your effort level going after the ball, your strategy and your tactics, figuring out what game plan is going to be the best for this particular match against this particular player. You can control things like your concentration–focusing just on what’s happening right in front of you, you know, between points. Leave your eyes down on the court. Don’t be looking around and saying, “Wow, this is boring. I’m not having a good [inaudible] ” You should be practicing trying to beat these players 6-0, 6-0, and crush them. And if these players really are weaker than you, you should be able to do that, and come off the court and feel good about how you performed, regardless of what the score was. And if that particular day you perform well, and you consider this player to be much weaker than you, but it was still close, well, maybe you need to give a little bit more respect to these players that you think are quite a bit weaker than you are.
So, when it comes down to it, play with intensity, play with focus, practice this on purpose, Ben. Go set up times with these players, and practice beating them badly. It’s… honestly, it’s a skill. It’s a mental skill, and a tactical skill to know how to put away players who are weaker than you are. It’s definitely something you should be working on. So, spend time, put in some repetition working on playing these types of players, and work on increasing your focus and your concentration.
So, Ben, hopefully that makes sense. A tricky situation, and it’s, again, great that you’re playing with these guys. Now you need to work on controlling what you can control and playing at a higher level–a level that you know you can play at–even though maybe they’re not giving you the best possible practice. So, let me know if you have any further questions about that. Best of luck as you continue working on your game. And let me know how it goes. [music] [music] [music]
Alright. Before we get to our second question today, I’d like to remind you all about the official sponsor of the Essential Tennis Podcast, and that is tennisexpress.com, the tennis online merchandise website extraordinaire, where you can get pretty much anything you could possibly need for your tennis game–rackets, strings, shoes, clothing, bags, stringing machines–whatever you could possibly need. And they’ve got great prices. They’re always running specials on different frames and different strings, so go check them out, see what their prices are for what you’re looking for–what you need, or what you’d like to upgrade to. And they have free shipping on orders of 75 dollars or over as well. So, definitely check them out. And if you check them out by going to essentialtennis.com/express, that will automatically shoot you over to Tennis Express and it will track any purchases that you might make through them, so that when you do make a purchase, a small percentage of that will come back to support the Essential Tennis Podcast, which I would appreciate very much. And Tennis Express appreciates you being a listener of the show and making your purchases through them. So, it’s a win-win-win. [laughter] You’re happy with the service and with the prices, Tennis Express is happy to have you support them, and I’m happy to have the support of all of you and of Tennis Express as well. So, please check them out this week. Again, that’s at essentialtennis.com/express.
Okay, now let’s go ahead and get to our second question. And this one comes to us from Blake, in Kansas. He’s a 4.0 player. He wrote and said: “I’ve been playing a little over 2 years now…” Well, Blake, it’s great that you’re already up to a 4.0 level. Great job with that. “I feel like my strokes have really developed well. I can get good pace off both wings on my groundstrokes. However, I really need to develop consistency and the ability to hit my shots even under pressure. My question is about how firm a player’s grip should be when hitting groundstrokes. I know that a very loose arm and a relaxed grip are crucial to having an effective serve, but I’ve not heard it talked about how much regarding the groundstrokes. I feel like many times I have a rather tense arm on my groundstrokes. Could this be robbing me of pace and spin? I have tried having a very loose arm on my strokes, and have had some success, however, I feel like I didn’t have much control over my arm. How firm and/or loose should my arm be, and grip be, on my groundstrokes? Should the strokes feel almost like a throw or whip, as the serve does? Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for offering such a great free service such as the podcast.”
Alright, you’re welcome, Blake. And that’s an excellent question. And you know what? I agree. I think it’s kind of common knowledge, or common instruction that websites or teaching pros will give, that you should be very loose and whippy with your arm and with the racket on a serve. But I agree with you, I can also say that I haven’t seen a whole lot of instruction on how tightly to grip the racket on a groundstroke.
Well, I will tell you that in general, recreational tennis players are much too tight. [inaudible] in general–serves, groundstrokes, on every shot–they tend to be tense and tight, especially right around the point of contact.
And too much muscle tension during a tennis stroke, causes two very big problems. First of all, shorter, jerky swing technique. And all of you listening to my voice know what I’m talking about. Maybe… well, you think probably not for yourself, but you’ve seen other players who are just… are super, super tight with their upper body as they try to hit the ball, and their technique is just really, really short and tight. At least as compared to a higher level player, and certainly as compared to a professional player, who have long and relaxed strokes. It might not look relaxed because they’re accelerating super fast, but trust me, they are–compared to recreational players. So as a result, there is less room for acceleration. The tighter you get and the shorter your stroke get, the less amount of distance your racket travels along. And that shorter distance means that you have less time, or less space, to actually accelerate the racket towards the ball and through the point of contact. So the racket head ends up decelerating.
The racket wants to move through the point of contact, but those tense and tight muscles end up actually holding it back and decelerating the racket. And so that leads to the second big problem of being tight is ultimately the racket slows down–there’s deceleration. So that gives you less potential for power and less potential for spin. And that was one of your questions: “Could this be robbing me of pace and spin?” Absolutely. 100%. Yes.
So, as a result of this, I’m constantly working with my students to help them relax their upper body. And there just seems to be kind of an automatic response for humans to want to kind of brace for impact between the ball and the racket. And that bracing, that tensing up, that tightness, absolutely robs the racket head of momentum and of speed, and those are bad things–especially on strokes that are longer in nature, such as groundstrokes and serves. So, when I finally do get a student to relax more and use a longer stroke, the result is more pace, more spin–or at least more potential for pace and spin–while trying less. And that’s significant.
All of your ears should’ve just perked up when I said that. Wouldn’t you love to have more power and more spin while trying less than you are right now? Or at the very least, while trying the same? Wouldn’t you love to have more power and more spin without actually trying any harder? Well, when you lengthen your stroke and you relax your body, and you allow your racket to freely swing through the point of contact, you’ll have the opportunity or the potential to be able to do that. And that’s a really, really significant thing, for sure.
So, the question that you had was, well, exactly how loose should we be? Well, I would definitely err on the side of feeling too loose, especially at first. As I said before, in my experience, recreational players in general are just always too tight, they’re just chronically tight–across the board when I watch recreational players. And it’s not a coincidence that as I look from a 2.5 to a 3.0, or a 3.0 to a 3.5, or a 3.5 to a 4.5 player, I see those players progressively use longer swing technique and more acceleration, and they look more relaxed as the racket accelerates–there’s less and less tension as I look from a lower rated player up through a higher rated player. It’s not a coincidence that I see longer, more relaxed strokes. So this is absolutely a key thing.
And in saying that every player needs to relax as much as possible, I will say that I’ve maybe seen one or two players that really were too relaxed, and they were just sloppy, and you know, not because they were lazy or cause they weren’t trying hard, but they were just too loosey-goosey, and had no control over what the racket was doing. Honestly, everybody, I’ve only seen that happen like once or twice in my whole teaching career. And I haven’t been teaching 30 years or anything, but I’ve been teaching a decent amount of time, and a lot of hours every week, and I almost never see that. It’s almost always the opposite–that recreational players are too tight.
So, in answering the question of exactly how loose should your grip be, and how relaxed should your arm be, I would really honestly say to most of you, as relaxed as possible. Seriously.
Now, when you do that, and this’ll be the last main topic here, is feeling out of control. When you do that, for the first time, very likely, you’re gonna feel like you’ve lost control over the racket, and you’ve lost control over where the ball was going. That’s super common. And over and over again… And by the way, the tighter of technique that a student has, when I ask them to completely relax, the more out of control they feel. So, it’s definitely a direct relationship, where if a student of mine is super tight, and I ask them to relax, they’ll feel much more often out of control than somebody who was doing a pretty good job, but they just needed to relax a little bit more.
So, if you have really tense technique now, and you literally do completely loosen up and relax, the very first time you do it, you’re probably going to feel like you have no control over where the ball is going. And really, what it comes down to, Blake, is that you need to learn how to still have control over it. And through repetition and practice, you’ll start learning to feel where the racket is, and where it’s facing. And the more you work on it, in the long run, you’re actually gonna end up having better control than when you were kind of hyper-controlling everything, and everything was tight and guided. In the long run, as you get better at making a relaxed swing, you’ll actually have more accuracy than when you were tight. It might seem like that’s impossible, especially to those of you who are very rigid and tight right now, but trust me, it will be the case as you practice it.
And the best way to practice it is just with a ball machine or a partner feeding to you, and not being worried about where the ball is going at first. Just relax, be totally loose, and if you miss every shot for the first 5 minutes fine. As you keep doing it you’ll start to get a better feel for where the racket is, cause it’s going to feel very different than what you’re used to. And as you make more and more strokes with a relaxed arm and hand, you’ll start to dial in and build some awareness of where the racket face is at, even though you’re not hitting with your regular tense body. You’ll learn how to control it.
And the last thing I want to say, Blake, is that you’re already a 4.0 player–which is great. You’re already above average as a tennis player. If you want to make that next jump up to 4.5, and certainly if you want to jump up to being a 5.0 player, this is something you will have to train yourself to do eventually. You need to be able to freely accelerate the racket if you ever want to create the power and spin necessary to be a 5.0 player. 4.5 you know, still a jump up from where you are now. It might not be completely necessary to learn how to be really relaxed and loose and free with your strokes. It might not be completely necessary, but it’s gonna help you a lot in being able to create more power and more spin than what you are right now, so that you can bump up that next level and make it up to 4.5. So keep working on it. Put in a bunch of repetition. Be as relaxed as possible. And maybe you’ll actually end up being somewhere in between where you are now and completely relaxed. That would still be better than whatever you’re probably doing right now. But keep working hard at it. And please let me know if I can help you any further with this topic or anything else.
And I’d love to hear thoughts from those of you listening about this topic, because it’s something that’s a lot of times controversial when I talk to recreational players about it. They kind of don’t believe me, especially when they try it and they don’t feel like they’re controlling it great at first. So if you have any comments about this topic, go to essentialtennis.com/podcast. Go to episode number 155, which is the number of today’s show, and leave me your thoughts and your comments. I’d love to hear from you.
Alright, well that wraps up that answer. Blake, again, thanks very much. Thank you for being a listener, and good luck as you continue working on your technique. [music] [music] [music]
Alright. That does it for episode number 155 of the Essential Tennis Podcast. Thank you very much for joining me on today’s show. And in wrapping up, I’d like to read a couple of comments from last week’s show, where I had Dr. Kone on the podcast, and we talked about a variety of mental toughness–questions having to do with choking, also feeling sorry or feeling bad for your opponent. And I’d like to read a couple of those comments. There were some really good ones. And thank you to all of you who left those comments. And I’m gonna continue reading comments each show from the previous one, so if you have any thoughts about Episode number 155, definitely go leave them. You can do that by going to essentialtennis.com/podcast, go to show 155, leave your comment, and I read and respond each and every one of those when all of you come by and leave your comments. So thank you for the time that you take to do that. I always love hearing feedback, whether it’s positive or negative. If you disagree with anything I said today, let me know, and I’d love to have a conversation with you about it.
Alright, so, some thoughts on the mental toughness podcast from last week. First of all, Alice. “Is it okay to have different levels of competitiveness. When I play my friends, I’m less likely to care about who walks away the winner. Does this hurt your mental toughness when it counts? Should you consider matches with friends practice for mental toughness?”
Well, Alice, that’s an excellent question. And I talked with Dr. Kone about being competitive, and feeling sorry and letting up on your opponent. Alice, it’s perfectly fine to have those group of friends that you like to go out, play with, and kind of socialize a little bit, catch up on what’s going on with your families, and your social life or whatever. Totally fine to have that time when you just go out, get some exercise, enjoy your time with your friends, and just have fun. There’s nothing wrong with that. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. And so I don’t think you would be–if that’s how you enjoy part of your tennis, and then another side of you likes to be really competitive, and really work hard, and win, and improve your mental toughness and your strategy, and etc–then I don’t think there’s anything wrong with separating that. And I don’t think it’s going to hurt your game, or hurt your mental toughness in the long run.
I think, what I just described is very reasonable approach. I don’t think it would be reasonable to only have “Okay, tennis is my sport. I’m gonna take it totally seriously. If you come out and play with me, even if we’re just friends and I’m way better than you, I’m gonna just crush you and just beat you into submission, whether we’re just friends and it’s just for fun or not.” I don’t think that’s a reasonable approach, and you’re going to end up not, you know, none of your friends are going to want to play with you–at least the ones that don’t take it seriously. And if you have a group of friends who just do it for fun, then just have fun with them. When you go out and you play with somebody who does take it seriously, and they do want your best game, then turn it on and be as competitive as possible. But I don’t think it’s going to hurt you to separate that a little bit.
Alright, now some really good thoughts–personal thoughts from listeners. First from Frank: “I have had that problem with feeling guilty about beating opponents, suggesting that a player with this problem change her personality for the duration of the match, is not likely to be helpful. What works for me, is reminding myself that nobody gets excited by the prospect of playing poor players. Everyone prefers to play better players, even if they lose.” That’s true. So, well, not everybody, Frank. Not everybody. Some people kind of have fragile egos, and they’d much rather crush somebody than lose. But in general, I agree. I think most people probably–who are really trying to improve–would agree with you, that they really want a good match.
And Frank continues: “So you are doing your opponent a favor by being the toughest opponent you can be. She may be happy today to have beat you, but you won’t be the kind of player she would want to play again. It’s like what mothers used to tell their daughters before dates, if you give in, he won’t respect you in the morning.” Yeah, I totally see what you’re saying, Frank, that if… Uh, who was that? I think it was Jeany, was the player who had felt sorry for her opponent and let up, and basically gave her the match. And you’re right. She probably was really happy to win at first, but in the long run, your opponent, Jeany, would have respected you a lot more if you’d really tried your hardest and beat her, and really played to the best of your ability. And Frank’s absolutely right. If she really wants to get better at tennis, she will be coming back to you to play you again anyway, because she wants to get better and therefore play people than are better than her. So you’re kind of doing her a disservice by letting up.
And then Frank continues: “If you want to be liked by others, recognize that if you beat your opponent badly, after she gets over her disappointment, she will forever be grateful that a superior player such as yourself agreed to give her a chance to play with you. Also, I remember that Jack Kramer and Bobby Riggs taught if you let up on your effort when you’re way ahead, it’s not niceness, you’re showing contempt for your opponent. It’s like saying, I’m so much better than you that I can beat you even without trying hard. It’s more respectful to try and win 6-0, 6-0 if you can, because it shows that you recognize that your opponent could raise her game and get back into the match at any moment. And that until the last point has been played, you have no guarantee of winning.”
Yeah. I really liked your thoughts, Frank. And I definitely think you’re on track there. Again, it depends on the maturity, the competitive maturity, of the opponent. Some players do feel slighted by beating them 6-0, 6-0, and feel like “Oh, come on, give me a game. You’re embarrassing me.” So, you might feel this way, Frank, and kind of players who are secure in themselves, and are mature as people and mature as competitors might feel the way that you do, and that they want to be beat 6-0, 6-0 if that’s how good their opponent is, other players take it personally when they get crushed and you don’t let up at all, and you show no mercy. So, it depends on the person, but at the end of the day, you need to do your best out there. Play to your full potential. And you know, you shouldn’t be kowtowing to everybody who has a confidence –not disorder, but lack of confidence in themselves as a person and as a player. That’s not something that you should be concerned about, and that shouldn’t alter your tactics and your level of play–is the bottom line.
And then lastly, from Dan: “I was intrigued by this mental game episode, and found Jeany’s situation particularly interesting. I’ve been on both sides of the issue–the one winning handily and concerned about my opponent’s feelings, as well as the one losing handily with my opponent seeming concerned about my feelings. I believe that the best approach for both sides is to play your best, and play to win. It gives you good practice of your technical strengths, furthermore, it’s good mental practice in closing out games, sets, and matches, and it gives your opponent much needed exposure to strong competition. Perhaps your opponent will see a shot from you that he or she has never seen before. If so, then he might get a better idea of his own strengths and weaknesses, and then work on them. We need the adversity of competition to develop our skills. Simply holding back and trying to spare our opponent’s feelings, won’t likely help him grow as a player. It’s always important to be a good sport, such as by showing respect and courtesy on the court, but being a good sport also means giving your best effort. Your opponent deserves it, and you deserve his best as well.” And Dan, I think that’s really, really well said. And I completely agree. Good thoughts.
So, Frank, Alice, and Dan, thank you for writing your thoughts, and really some, you know, thought and consideration really put into those comments. So thank you–you three, and everybody else who left comments. There were several other really well thought out comments as well. Those weren’t the only ones. And you can check them out by going to the comments section of Podcast number 154 –that was the mental toughness episode.
And leave comments for today’s show. Definitely do so by going to essentialtennis.com/podcast, Episode number 155, and I’ll be happy to read some of those comments next week when I record the next show. So until then, take care, and good luck with your tennis. [music] [music]
Great podcast, and again so timely for me.
I’m beginning to feel the magic of more relaxed racket hand and arm, particularly on my single-handed topspin backhand. Still not ingrained, but getting there. It really does feel like magic when you hit a powerful and relaxed shot, you feel like a pro!
Two more benefits of relaxed hitting hand and arm: energy conservation in a match, and injury prevention long term.
Hi Ian,
I think a what most rec players don’t understand is the difference between keeping the arm/ upper body relaxed and keeping the wrist still. When rec players hear “relax” they will literally relax everything and a wobbly wrist follows.
Stone
Ian, thanks for 155, as relaxing is easy to forget. For sweaty hands I find that using a baseball pitcher’s resin bag to be very helpful. I just tap it on my racquet handle and my palm every other changeover and it’s just sticky enough to work.
A solution that has helped me on hot days is “tack cloth” (sp?) from a paint store or paint department of Home Depot, etc.
Rub the cloth on the grip of your racket every two or three games (or as often as needed). It adds a tacky, non-slip finish to the grip that helps quite a bit.
Bob
Hey Ian,
I tried it out today, and although my timing was thrown off, it felt a lot better when I did hit it properly. I think I’ll need more practise to get the timing better, but it’s always nice when one simple tip can make so much difference! Thanks!
It’s funny, but I see many pros (including Nadal) having tapes all over their racquet hand fingers. Not sure if the blisters are due to over gripping or over playing. But I have never seen tapes on fingers of Mr. Federer. And guess who looks most relaxed of them all on the court 🙂
SD,
I’m pretty sure it’s a blister/comfort thing, I don’t it’s due to the racket slipping.
I am one of those who sweats! 50 degrees, or 90 degrees – I sweat!
The best thing I have found for helping maintain a stable, non-slip grip is Gorilla Grip. It’ originated as an assist for baseball/softball batters. It’s bees wax, and does not leave any residue on your hands or on your racket grip.
One cloth costs around $5, and lasts for many matches.
Great Ian. I enjoy very much your 155 podcast. I agree with your advices related to power and speed
in connection with relaxing . I start to work one year ago with my coach and I
start now to have good serve and ground strokes. I work very much with the wall to try to relax and I ask you how I should train? Could you give me some advices.
Thank you
Bernard Thouvenin Grenoble France
Bernard,
Thanks for your comment, I’m happy that you enjoyed the show!
Hitting against a wall can definitely be excellent practice! My top two pointers are:
1. Make sure you have a specific target. Take some tape and create a box about a meter wide/long over the top of the net line on the wall. Use it as a target for every single shot!
2. Allow the ball to bounce twice before hitting it each time, not once, not three times, always twice! This will allow you a realistic amount of time between shots.
Hi Ian,
I’ve been playing tennis for about 7 months now. I spend lots of times practicing against a wall to work on my swing mechanics. The last two months have been interesting as I’m getting more used to a proper swing. On days where my swing technique is off, I get tired quickly, and then — this is the good part — I take a minute break to slowly breathe in and out deeply, and find that I become more relaxed. immediately, both my forehands and backhands show a marked improvement thanks to that relaxation (and it’s not the rare sloppy type you talked about in your podcast). There’s a dramatic increase in pace and spin, and it just feels so good.
So, something I’m doing more often now is using short relaxing breaks to do some deep breathing when I find myself really exhausted from bad shots. It calms me down, and my body feels more relaxed and flexible. Deep breathing –> muscle relaxation.
Actually, I should mention that I started taking more note of my breathing since watching some of the pros play on TV. I noticed some pros blowing on their fingers, so I searched online why they do that. Some people said it was a sort of superstition/tradition, some others said it brings the player’s attention to his/her breathing. What’s your take on this?
Hey Mike,
Excellent job slowing things down and gaining control again when things start to come off the tracks against the wall, that’s great practice!
I’m quite sure that most pros who blow on their hands do so out of habit and ritual, just like some of them like to spin their racket, others bounce the ball a certain amount of times, hop up and down a certain way, etc etc. I would say that it’s definitely not anything more complicated than that.
Hi Ian,
This podcast is very timely as I plan to start playing again after a few weeks off with tennis elbow. In addition to getting more power and spin, I hope to avoid any more injury to my arm by being relaxed. Thanks for the great information.
You’re welcome, Alice! Be careful with that tennis elbow, let me know how it goes. Good luck!
Hi Ian,
Thanks for another great podcast. I have an observation about the first part where a 3.5 player plays really bad when playing with 2.5 friends. I have gone through similar experiences and for me it mostly happens because I “think” I am so much better and try to crush them and fail due to lack of consistency. Example while I have a good reliable topspin serve, I try to hit fast flat serves to get an ace and most of time double fault. Instead of trying a controlled forehand I try to rip it for a winner and hit it in net or outside.
The problem is I try to do too much instead of just playing my regular game and winning due to other players errors.
-Sunil.
Sunil,
You’re welcome, great to hear that you enjoyed it!
Sure, I definitely know what you’re talking about. Don’t try and impress anybody out there by blowing a weaker player off the court with every single shot. Easier said than done, but be smart and win with solid tactics!
My one thought on developing an attitude/habit of playing with intensity might also come into play against that 0.5 better than you player, who is having an off day. Does your level drop as they drop or do you sieze the opportunity to win?
My question is: What does being relaxed look like vs. being tense? Something concrete or specific. The egg and the bird was good. But how would I know if I am out on the machine or simply rallying with my partner the diffference between being relaxed and being tight? My grip, my elevated shoulder, elbow tight to the body? What are the signs good and bad?
Beth,
Here are three concrete ways to identify tension:
1. Physically short swings/follow throughs. This is something that might be a little difficult to identify in the heat of the moment, but if you notice your racket finishing right in front of you on a forehand ground stroke where you normally finish over your shoulder you can bet that there was physical tension there!
2. Big effort but small result. If you’re trying really hard to hit the ball but it only putters off your racket weakly then you can be sure that tension is sapping your efforts up instead of transferring them into the ball.
3. Feeling physically tired. As mentioned a few comments back playing tight will tire your arm/body out MUCH more quickly than if you’re relaxed!
Hopefully that’s enough to get you on the right track 🙂
Ian, thanks for the reminder! This knowledge (stay relaxed) was somewhere in the back of my head. All I needed was a reminder. As soon as you started the topic, several flowing forehands from my recent tennis past came rushing back into memory, and the common thread… a relaxed, fluid motion.
Thanks again for another great podcast.
You’re welcome, Brett! That’s part of why I love doing these podcasts. Even if a listener knows most of what’s being presented already it’s still a great reminder of what to do out there.
Hi Ian thank you so much for answering the long awaited question. Often with these group of people I play doubles the majority of the time since there are just so many people for one court. Therefore it is harder for me to find a singles slot where I can practice destroying these kind of players. A lot of the time in doubles the ball will be directed to the weaker player on the opposing team to exploit the weakness. This also makes it hard for me as I must depend on my partner as well. Unfortunately, my partners are around the same level as the rest of them and I cannot hog the court and be responsible for every ball. It really frustrates me when my partner makes poor shot selections repetitively as well. A lot of the time when they would get a backhand ball they would slice a floater to the opposing net player which serves them a fresh platter of kobe steak. I used to suggest them an adjustment such as hitting a topspin backhand and/or running around more backhands to hit forehands but would be very stubborn about it. I try my best to do what I can but in a team game there is a limit for every player’s contribution to the team. What should I do in this case? Also in my question does it seem as if I put more pressure on myself by telling myself that I must play better than them?
Staying relaxed is certainly a vital aspect in your game since it will not only allow you to hit better shots but allow you to play for a longer duration of time. Once during a team drill I was asked to hit 10 down the line shots off both wings and I was sweating. My teammate who is a much higher level player told me that when you don’t relax you only put more weight on your body and you get tired faster. I took his advice on the next run and felt the immediate difference. However, I find it harder to relax during a match situation even if I practice doing this. Is there anythin to help this?
Hey Ben!
Hm, ya that doubles situation is a completely different animal than what I discussed on the show, definitely a tricky situation. Basically what I recommend is realizing that you can NOT control everything that’s going on around you. You can’t control your partner’s strokes, strategy, mental toughness or attitude. All you can really do is play your best and keep your focus as well as possible. Yes, putting pressure on yourself to dominate in these situations is a bad idea, simply because you can’t control everything. Just focus on what YOU can control and do your best! If you do those two things then walk off the court happy that day.
Your partner is absolutely right, playing tight will tire out your body much more quickly! Sorry, I don’t have any kind of magic fix here, the only cure is to keep putting yourself in these types of situations as often as possible, practice them while trying to stay relaxed on purpose! You’ll keep getting better at it, don’t worry.
I’ve used a regular no-odor anti-perspirant with moderate success. I find that it only work if applied well before I start to play so that it has a chance to work in. After my hands start to sweat the anti-perspirant is useless. If you are like me you need to apply it between the fingers and to the back of the hand also. I reapply once a set.
I played golf for 25+ years and had really good and relaxed hands. Playing tennis, I’ve found that the key to a relaxed stroke is early preparation. It is those shots that I rush or swing late that I don’t have a relaxed swing. The earlier I prepare, and the longer I can hold the racquet with my non-hitting hand, the more relaxed my swing is from volley’s to groundies and even overheads. This has been my experience.
Kyle,
I worked hard at my golf game for a few years, loose hands help SO much, there are so many similarities between golf and tennis technique. You’re right, getting rushed makes being relaxed 10X more difficult and being ready early helps get rid of that panic! Thanks a lot for your thoughts.
I sweat a lot in the summer. More than anyone at my club. There is a product called Fusion which is basically wood flour and calcium carbonate. It works but is messy. I bought it at Sports Authority, but try Tennis Express first. The more practical alternative for me is to switch Tournagrips after every change over. If you have a band at the top of the grip, you can do this in 30 seconds or less. I never use the supplied finishing tape. I just reuse Tournagrips and I’ll go through 4-6 in a match. You can buy them at Tennisexpress.com. I can reuse those 6 grips for about 4 matches.
Hi Ed,
I wipe my racket hand on the leg of my shorts between points. I find it a fairly unobstrusive way to dry my hand (and relax my grip) between points.
My back, hands, and arms sweat quite a bit but my shorts only get sweaty around the elastic band area so the shorts are relatively dry. If you just lost a point you can also just smack the side of your leg a few times with your hand, no one will even notice that your drying your racket hand 🙂
Not sure if this can apply to you.
Many thanks for the all interesting comments on relaxation.
Here are a few questions and comments, if you want to consider them.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks again!
Gary
1. Relaxation vs. Intensity
Sometimes (not always), relaxation might imply a certain lack of intensity or focus. If total relaxation is like lying in a sleepy hammock on a lonely beach, it might not suggest the level intensity that a focused task might require. Arguably, playing an intense point, game or set might require intensity. Would that not contradict relaxation? It seems that one’s real challenge is of course to be relaxed but also (at same time) not lose that focused intensity to play well. Do you agree?
2. How hard to hold the racket handle
I heard that one should hold the racket handle for all shots (groundies, serves, etc.) “loose”,
meaning as if you are holding a raw egg or a live bird in your hand. Squeeze any harder, and you will feel (and be) a mess. Do you agree?
3. Are there are circumstances where the player should intentionally be more tense or tight in tennis, such as to add “strength” to a shot?
I think you answered this question before for me as: In general, no. OK, I agree. Would there be any exception for standard (non-touch) type volleys? I know for touch volleys or drop volleys, you keep your hand and wrist loose and let them absorb the point of impact. Would about non-touch volleys or “power” volleys hit hard and deep, should you not squeeze your hand through the point of contact to the target? Some one above mentioned “squeeze” also.
Thanks!
Gary,
1. You’re absolutely correct. Your mind should be focused and intense, your footwork should be quick and urgent, and your swing technique should be smooth and relaxed. Those three things happening all at once takes either a great deal of natural athleticism or a great deal of conscious repetition. Definitely not an easy thing!
2. Yes, I agree with those analogies. I’ve heard the bird one many times, don’t think I’ve come across the egg one before though.
3. You’re on track here as well, Gary. The only exception I can think of to the “loose grip” advise is on an offensive volley. These are “strokes” that are much more abbreviated than a ground stroke or serve and as such it takes some firmness to keep the racket head under control, ie not swinging all over the place. This is probably something I should have mentioned in the podcast (did I?). If I didn’t I’ll talk about it at the end of next week’s show.
As always thank you for your insightful comments and questions!
Hice topic! It just shows that simple things are difficult to achieve by recreational players, which I am. Sounds simpler to stay relaxed than being too tight. I’ll definitely try this !
Whether or not it’s “simple” really depends on your experience and ability as an athlete in general. Some rec players naturally start off with smooth and relaxed strokes due to time spent getting good at a different sport. Those picking it up as their first ever sport in their 40s will very likely take a long time to develop the skill of being loose and relaxed!
Yeah, I forgot to mention I also use wristbands on both arms – the big wide thick Adidas ones. Like all the other measures mentioned, they work, but only up to a point. Thanks for replying anyway. I guess I might consult a doctor about this one. If any of your readers in the ET community know of any folk remedies or other counter-measures I would be really interested to hear from them!
I’m sure they would have thoughts on this, sign up for an account and post your issue in the gear section!
Hello Ed,
just a comment about this problem. I´ve seen that Soderling uses some kind of little spray on his hands between games…
I seached google and found a low cost remedy but not too profesional “Douse a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and swab the entire surface of your hands. ”
And you can also try these ones:
http://www.ghostgrip.com/
http://www.amazon.com/ProActive-Tite-Grip-Antiperspirant-Lotion/dp/B0015R4AUS
Please le us know if it works if you decide to use them
kind regards,
Hey Ed, prescription antiperspirant is really good. It’ll sort you out in no time.
Hi Ian
Thanks for another great podcast.
You are so right about staying relaxed. I find that when I hit with a loose grip this automatically relaxes my wrist and the rest of my arm, and I play with much better power, spin and consistency.
However, I have a physical problem in keeping this up for more than 10 to 15 minutes. Unfortunately, I suffer from excessive sweating through my hands whenever I do any form of exercise, and after about 10-15 minutes of moderate play, the grip on my racket becomes very slippery thanks to the sweat. It almost feels like I’m holding a bar of soap! I have to counter this by gripping much tighter to the racket to stop it flying out of my hand (trust me, this can and does happen often!) and as a consequence my wrist and arm also tighten up and my shots deteriorate. It is very frustrating.
I have tried everything to remedy this. I get through tons of overgrips – the dry feel types seem to work better than the tacky ones, but they are not much help. I towel off religiously between and even during games. I try to dry up my hands with talcum powder at changeovers. All of these things help, but none of them really works well.
Have you ever encountered anyone else with this problem, and do you know of anything I could put on my hands to make them stickier?
Ed,
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.
I haven’t encountered this issue very many times, but have heard it before. You say that you towel off between games, but it sounds like you should be doing it between every single point. Have you tried wrist bands? You can get really wide and thick ones to put on your opposite forearm to use as a towel when you don’t want to go back to the curtain every single point. If it’s affecting your game that much do whatever it takes. Sounds really frustrating!
Some players with world rankings have dealt with excessive perspiration — there is hope.
Even if sweat is coming through your hands onto the racket handle, wrist bands will at least help prevent more sweat from running down your arms; change them when they get wet. In the past I have had success with this.
Suggestions also include using a grip resin that makes the grip adhere more to the hands, although if you change your grip during points this needs to be worked out.
You need more than one racket, so you can change before the handle is saturated and let it dry in the sun. And hold your racket by the grip only during actual play. In between hold it in the off hand by the throat (and that is most of the time, in fact).
And be careful when you wipe it off or drink water not to let the handle press against your body, where it will be exposed to more perspiration.
All good advice!
Have you considered a glove? It probably looks strange on a tennis court but I bet a racquetball glove would help a lot.
I know a few players that use a glove, they make tennis specific ones.
Hi Ian,
Nice show! I was told that I should squeeze the racket handle just before contact on a ground stroke. Does that go against the “be relaxed” concept?
Natalie,
Glad you enjoyed it! It might, it just depends on how much of a “squeeze” we’re talking about and whether or not the player continues squeezing past the point of contact. I would honestly error on the side of relaxing too much in general (which is highly unlikely that you’ll do anyway), just like I said in the show. Experiment though, see what feels easiest and most natural.
Thanks for the response. I think the racket was rotating a little if I hit it off-centre, so I found it helped to give it a bit of a squeeze. No death grips though! I’ll mess around and see what works.
Natalie,
I hear that comment SO much. You know how you fix the racket rotating from hitting off center? Hit the middle of the racket!! Seriously though, don’t try to make up for poor contact by doing something that inhibits your technique. Spend time learning how to make clean contact as often as possible!
Just tried some shadowing, and I can’t believe how tense I was on the backhand! Maybe that’s why it’s so much worse than the forehand. Can’t wait to try it on court!
Excellent, let me know how it goes!
Is it acceptable to have more muscle tension when hitting returns?
Nick,
You should definitely remain physically relaxed whenever possible! Of course it becomes most difficult in a defensive situation, one where you have little time to react to the oncoming ball (return of serve can be one of those situations).
Hi Ian,
A great example of how relaxing helps with EVERYTHING in hitting the ball, consider what often happens when you are returning serve and you call it long or wide before you make contact with your racket. How often does the ball place perfectly and with pace without effort? Answer: very often, especially compared to when it “counts”. It is clearly because the ball was struck with a more relaxed grip/arm/body.
Aloha,
Rich
Rich,
You’re absolutely right and I have experienced exactly what you mean countless times!